Francis h



(No Model.)

F. H. RICHARDS.

BUTTON FASTENER.

No. 319,508. Patented June 9; 1885.

Wiinessea Invenior,

UNITED STATES FRANCIS H. RICHARDS, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE AMERICAN BUTTON FASTENER COMPANY, OF NEW BRITAIN, CONN.

B U TTO N FAS TEN ER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 319,508, dated June 9, 18815.

Application filed October 22, 1884. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANCIS H. RICHARDS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Button-Fasteners, of which thefollowing isa specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which, Figure 1 is a side view of a blank for my lmproved button-fastener. Fig. 2 is asimilar view of the same showing one prong bent over into ahook. Fig. 3 is another side view, showing the completed button-fastener inserted into a piece of fabric, and holding a shankbutton thereto. Fig. 4. is a plan view of the fastener in Fig. 3, showing the hooks sprung apart laterally to admit the shank of a button.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

My invention relates to improvements in that class of fasteners used for securing shankbuttons to fabrics and other materials, in which there are two prongs terminating in hooks which stand side by side and have their points in opposite directions, the object being to furnish such fasteners that can be made by cutting them out of sheet metal, or by sever- 1ng them from a bar having a cross-sectional outline corresponding to the shape of said te e and of which fasteners the hooks can be sprung apart to admit of the passage between them of the shank of a button.

The invention consists in a button-fastener of the class described, having the novel. featnreS hereinafter first described in connection with the drawings, and afterward pointed out in the claim.

In the drawings, H designates the head, and I? and 1?, respectively, the left-hand and right-hand prongs, of a button-fastener embodying my improvements. These prongs rise from the head H on either side of its center, each prong being located, preferably, about midway between said center and the end of said head. By this construction the head consists of a bar, which may be considered as composed of five partsnamely, a central part extending between the inner edges of prongs P and 1?; two parts on either end of said central part, which may be considered as cont-inuations of the prongs, being equal in length to the width of said prongs, and two end parts, one extending outward from the outer side of each prong. When the fastenerblank, Fig. 1, is inserted into the fabric F, Fig. 3, and its prongs P and I are bent over through the shank or eye of button B, as in said figure, thereby completing the fastener, then the said central part and end parts of the head all have a bearing on the under side of the fabric for resisting the pull of the button, which draws centrally on said head.

The buttons may be secured to the fabric by holding them inproper position and bending the points of the prongs over through the shanks of said buttons at the time of forming the hooks, or the hooks may be formed first,

and then sprung apart to admit the buttonshank, as illustrated by Fig. 4. The buttons may also be removed in the same way. During this operation of placing or removing a button the springing apart of the hooks acts to twist the aforesaid central part of head H, the un'bent parts of the prongs acting as levers to effect the twisting of said part, and when the shank passes from between said hooks the torsional elasticity of said central part brings and holds said hooks together.

It will be understood that the relative height and thickness of the head should be such, having due regard to the kind of material used for making and the size of the fastener, that the central part of said head will have sufficient elasticity for the purpose described.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- The improved button-fastener herein described, consisting of a bar-shaped head, H, and two prongs, I and PZjoined to said head and terminating in hooks, as H and H, said head having atorsionally-elastic central part, substantially as and for the purpose described.-

FRANCIS H. RICHARDS.

Witnesses:

H. W. FAULKNER, C. O. PALMER. 

